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This example demonstrates how to research a company from scratch using FinMCP tools, from finding the ticker to analyzing financials and news.

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Scenario: Researching a Company

Let’s say you heard about a company but only know its name. Here’s how to conduct comprehensive research.

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Step 1: Find the Ticker Symbol

Prompt to AI:
“Find the ticker for Tesla”
The AI uses yf_search to find the ticker: 
{
  "query": "Tesla",
  "max_results": 5
}
Response: Returns search results showing TSLA as the ticker, along with related results. Alternatively, use yf_lookup for more specific searches: 
{
  "query": "Tesla",
  "kind": "stock",
  "count": 10
}

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Step 2: Get Company Overview

Prompt to AI:
“Give me detailed information about Tesla”
The AI uses yf_ticker_info: 
{
  "ticker": "TSLA"
}
Response: Returns comprehensive company data including:
  • Business description
  • Market cap and enterprise value
  • Employee count
  • Headquarters location
  • Industry and sector
  • Website and contact info
  • Key executives
  • Trading metrics (P/E ratio, beta, etc.)

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Step 3: Analyze Financial Statements

Prompt to AI:
“Show me Tesla’s annual income statement”
The AI uses yf_ticker_income_stmt: 
{
  "ticker": "TSLA",
  "freq": "yearly"
}
Response: Returns annual income statement with revenue, expenses, net income, EPS, etc. Prompt to AI:
“What’s Tesla’s balance sheet look like? Show quarterly data” 
{
  "ticker": "TSLA",
  "freq": "quarterly"
}
The AI uses yf_ticker_balance_sheet to show assets, liabilities, and equity. Prompt to AI:
“Show me Tesla’s cash flow statement” 
{
  "ticker": "TSLA",
  "freq": "yearly"
}
The AI uses yf_ticker_cash_flow to display operating, investing, and financing cash flows.

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Step 4: Check Analyst Recommendations

Prompt to AI:
“What are analysts saying about Tesla?”
The AI uses yf_ticker_recommendations: 
{
  "ticker": "TSLA"
}
Response: Returns historical analyst recommendations (Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, Strong Sell) by firm and date. Prompt to AI:
“What’s the analyst price target for Tesla?” 
{
  "ticker": "TSLA"
}
The AI uses yf_ticker_analyst_price_targets to show current, high, low, and mean price targets.

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Step 5: Review Recent News

Prompt to AI:
“Get the latest news about Tesla”
The AI uses yf_ticker_news: 
{
  "ticker": "TSLA"
}
Response: Returns recent news articles with titles, publishers, links, and publish times.

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Step 6: Examine Insider Activity

Prompt to AI:
“Show me recent insider transactions for Tesla”
The AI uses yf_ticker_insider_transactions: 
{
  "ticker": "TSLA"
}
Response: Returns insider buying and selling activity with names, dates, shares, and transaction values.

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Step 7: Check Institutional Ownership

Prompt to AI:
“Who are the major institutional holders of Tesla?”
The AI uses yf_ticker_institutional_holders: 
{
  "ticker": "TSLA"
}
Response: Returns top institutional investors, their holdings, and recent changes.

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Complete Research Workflow

Here’s a complete conversational flow: You: “I want to research Nvidia. Give me a complete overview.” AI response would use:
  1. yf_search - Find ticker (NVDA)
  2. yf_ticker_info - Company basics
  3. yf_ticker_income_stmt - Recent financials
  4. yf_ticker_recommendations_summary - Analyst consensus
  5. yf_ticker_news - Latest headlines

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Exporting Financial Data

Prompt to AI:
“Export Tesla’s annual income statement to a CSV file” 
{
  "ticker": "TSLA",
  "freq": "yearly",
  "save": {
    "format": "csv",
    "filename": "tsla_income_stmt.csv"
  }
}

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Common Research Prompts

  • “What does Apple do? Give me the business description”
  • “Show me Microsoft’s quarterly earnings history”
  • “Get the balance sheet for Amazon”
  • “What’s the analyst consensus on Netflix?”
  • “Find recent upgrades and downgrades for Meta”
  • “Show me the dividend history for Coca-Cola”
  • “Get upcoming earnings dates for Alphabet”

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Tips

  • Use yf_ticker_fast_info for quick key metrics without the full info dictionary
  • Set freq: "quarterly" for more recent financial data, "yearly" for annual trends
  • Check yf_ticker_calendar for upcoming earnings and ex-dividend dates
  • Use yf_ticker_earnings_dates with a limit parameter to see historical and future earnings dates
  • Combine yf_ticker_upgrades_downgrades and yf_ticker_recommendations for complete analyst coverage
  • Set pretty: true on financial statement tools for human-readable formatting

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